Wickford, close to Wickford railway station. A public footpath runs along the left bank of the river from the bridge at Castledon Road, and forms part of a nature trail. The river turns to the south and is separated from the railway station by allotment gardens and Wickford Junior School. After passing under the A129 road, it turns to the east, and the road crosses it again as it turns to the north. There was severe flooding in this area in 1958, and as a consequence, the course of the river was re-engineered, and runs in a concrete channel with a wider concrete overflow apron. A reservoir for the Great Eastern Railway was constructed in 1907, close to where the railway crosses the river, and was formally opened by Reverend Francis Dormer Pierce, the rector of St Catherine’s Church. It covered an area of just over , and water from the river entered it through a sluice gate. Once the railway was electrified, the reservoir was no longer needed, and it is now part of a car park. Another tributary joins from the south. It starts at springs in Northlands Park, Basildon, and is also fed by water from a large lake, which was constructed in the 1970s to collect floodwater from developments at Fryerns and Chalvedon. After passing under the A127 Southend Arterial Road at Burnt Mills and flowing along the western edge of Nevendon, it runs parallel to the A132 road. It discharges into the Crouch after passing through a culvert beneath the roundabout where the A129 and A132 meet. Downstream of the railway bridge, the Crouch is crossed by Lower Southend Road, where the concrete channel ends and the river becomes more natural again. It continues to the south of Runwell and forms the northern border of Wickford Memorial Park, after which it is crossed by the Crouch Valley railway. There is a sewage works on the right bank immeditately below the bridge, and the bridge is the highest point on the river to which tides normally flow. As it approaches Battlesbridge, the river is crossed by three bridges, all of which have been part of the A130 road. The first is the Mayrose Bridge, constructed in the early 2000s as part of a scheme to build a replacement A130 road between Chelmsford and the A127 road. The bridge has a span of with two intermediate piers,